JMC proposes to name Jammu airport, university after Dogra kings

The Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC) has proposed to name the state-run university and airport here after Dogra kings and passed a resolution for the same in its general house meeting followed by making a recommendation in this regard to the administration of the Union Territory.

The historic City Chowk, the commercial hub in old Jammu, was renamed 'Bharat Mata Chowk' while another intersection was named 'Atal Chowk' in memory of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee after passage of a resolution by the general house of the BJP-led JMC.

"A resolution was moved in the general house for naming various chowks, roads and institutions in Jammu city," senior BJP leader and Deputy Mayor of JMC, Purnima Sharma, told PTI.

In this regard, two proposals to rename Jammu Airport and Jammu University were also passed with full majority, apart from renaming various places in the city, she said.

The resolutions have paved the way for renaming the airport as Maharaja Hari Singh Jammu Airport and the local university as the Maharaja Gulab Singh Jammu University.

"It has been recommended to the UT administration to name these institutions after Dogra kings," Sharma said.

Maharaja Gulab Singh was the founder of the Dogra rule in Jammu and Kashmir and Maharaja Hari Singh was the last Dogra ruler, who acceded Jammu and Kashmir to India in 1947.

Sharma, who moved the resolution for change the name of the city's main intersection point to 'Bharat Mata Chowk', said this place is historic and a witness to major decisions and protests in the past.

"Every year people hoist the tricolour on Republic Day and Independence Day at this chowk. There was a popular demand from the public to rename it as Bharat Mata Chowk," Sharma said.

The starting point of the circular road near Panjtirthi in the city was named by the JMC as 'Atal Chowk' in the memory of the former prime minister.

The Bharatiya Janata Party swept the JMC polls, winning 43 of the 75 wards, after the urban local bodies elections were held in the erstwhile state in four phases from October 8 to 16 in 2018 after a gap of 13 years.